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Siropas only for a select few, rest to get books: SGPC
SGPC Tuesday resolved to stop staff recruitment for the next 6 months and curtail excessive use of presenting robe of honour in gurdwaras and other institutions managed under it.
AMRITSAR: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday resolved to stop staff recruitment for the next six months and curtail the ‘excessive’ use of presenting a ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) in gurdwaras and other institutions managed under it.
The decision was taken during the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee of the SGPC held under its president Harjinder Singh Dhami.
“There will be a complete ban on recruitment within the SGPC for the next six months. Only temporary labour can be employed as per the requirement,” Dhami said after the meeting.
As per SGPC secretary Partap Singh, nearly 20,000 employees work in the SGPC and “There is no specific reason behind the ban. We don’t need to recruit more staff. The staff, at present, is enough to keep the body operational.”
The SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal, said, “One of the reasons for this decision is that SGPC wants to focus on the Sikh concerns including the release of the Sikh prisoners.”
However, sources in SGPC said on condition of anonymity that the top brass remains under constant pressure from the SGPC members and Akali leaders who want their persons to be recruited or adjusted in the gurdwara body. “To get rid of this situation, the president got the resolution passed in the meeting. Besides, the SGPC top brass does not want to give the opposition, which has got stronger after the elections, a chance to corner and allege that staff was being recruited in violation of the rules,” the source said.
Others are also seeing it as administrative reform aimed at avoiding further burden on the SGPC.
In another resolution, the SGPC stopped the excessive use of presenting ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) in gurdwaras and other institutions managed under it.
“Many of the siropas are presented unnecessarily in violation of Sikh maryada. Besides, it is presented to those who don’t deserve for same. In place of it, a set of books will be given during special or ordinary occasions,” Dhami said, adding, “Rules have also been framed for the proper use of siropa in the future. Only those who have contributed to Panthic (community’s) causes will be honoured with siropa, while books will be given to other respected personalities.”
The committee also decided to launch a signature campaign from December 1, 2022, demanding the release of Sikh prisoners. The campaign will be held nationwide, said Dhami.
“To make this movement nationwide, an approach will be made for filling proformas to different states through the SGPC’s Sikh missions and gurdwara management committees besides Punjab,” Dhami said. He said that the centre of this campaign will be the SGPC office in Amritsar, while sub-centres will be established in every district of Punjab and Sikh missions outside Punjab.
“Especially in Punjab, proformas will be filled by setting up camps at gurdwaras, educational institutions, railway stations, bus stands, cities, towns and important intersections”, said SGPC President.
He said that after completing the work of filling the proformas, a one-day protest will be held by all SGPC members in Chandigarh, after which, the filled proformas will be handed over to the Punjab Governor. He also said that besides filling the proformas, its entire written and digital record will also be maintained simultaneously.
On the recent Union governments announcement that December 26 will be observed as Veer Bal Diwas, Dhami said SGPC is once again asking the Union and state governments to implement the decision as recommended by Akal Takht.
“Martyrdom day of Sahibzadas (four sons of 10th Sikh Master Guru Gobind Singh) is an important page of Sikh history, which should be observed as per the spirit of Sikh heritage and Gurmat (teachings of Sikh Gurus). Therefore, the Union government should change and announce the name of this day as ‘Sahibzade Shahadat Diwas’,” he said.
Led by Baba Gurpreet Singh Randhawe Wale, members of the opposition also introduced their agenda during the meeting. Termination of exclusive rights of Gurbani telecast to the PTC channel was a major point of their agenda but it was not entertained by the SGPC office bearers.
BOX:
Imp decisions
No recruitment for six months
Stop the excessive use of siropas in Gurdwaras and institutes
Signature campaign from Dec 1 for the release of Sikh prisoners
